2 dead, 1 injured in shooting near Kentucky courthouse, suspect shoots himself after standoff with police

ELIZABETHTOWN, Kentucky – A gunman who shot and killed a mother and her daughter and wounded another man outside a Kentucky courthouse led police on a highway chase before shooting himself Monday, police said.

The suspect, Christopher Elder, 46, is in critical condition after suffering a gunshot wound, Elizabethtown police said.

One of the victims, 37-year-old Erica Riley of Elizabethtown, had attended a court hearing with Elder in Hardin County on Monday morning before the shooting, police said. The two had been in a relationship, Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson said.

Riley's mother, 71-year-old Janet Riley of Hardinsburg, was also shot and died after being taken to a hospital, police said in a news release Monday afternoon.

The shooting occurred in a parking lot and Elder subsequently fled the scene, Thompson said.

Elder's vehicle was found by police on a western Kentucky highway and he was pursued and stopped, Thompson said. The police chief said police negotiators spoke with Elder before he turned a gun on himself.

Elizabethtown is located about 45 miles (72.4 kilometers) south of Louisville.

The man who was shot was also related to Riley, Thompson said. His condition is stable, police said. His name has not been released.

After the shooting, a “light lockdown” was imposed on surrounding schools until police could determine that it was an isolated incident, Thompson said.

Michael Cockerel told the Associated Press he was leaving the Hardin County Justice Center Monday morning when he heard gunshots nearby. He heard a series of shots and initially thought it was a nail gun from a construction site.

But after hearing a few shots, “it clicked in my head that those could be gunshots,” Cockerel said.

Cockerel said he took cover behind a car in a nearby parking lot. When he thought the danger had passed, he returned to the front of the courthouse and saw the victims across the street. He said he never saw the shooter.

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This story has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of Janet Riley's last name, instead of Janet Rylee, as previously reported by Elizabethtown police.